Dervish Theodicy

In a mathnawi of Farid-ud-Din Attar, someone asks a "diwane" (a fool for God) what God is really up to. The fool responds: "Have you seen the slate of the schoolboys? Like these boys, God now writes something new on the slate, then wipes out what He has written. With this and nothing else He is busy all the time. He has no other occupation than producing and annihilating." Another fool, asked the same question, gave a similar answer: "God is a potter, who first makes fine pottery with great skill in order to smash the pots to pieces afterwards."

[Adapted from Hellmut Ritter, "Muslim Mystics Strife With God"].